Comparative Effect on Skin Bacterial Counts of Surgical Skin Preparations, After Preoperative Showering with Anionic and Cationic Soaps | Biomedgrid

The authors investigated the effect over time, that preoperative showering with anionic and cationic soaps has on the effectiveness of the surgical skin preparation (skin disinfectant) used in the operating room. It has been long known that the ionic charge of detergents and soaps, can have a detrimental effect to the efficacy of skin disinfectants used thereafter [1]. The authors randomized 100 patients into test groups, using anionic and cationic soaps followed by common surgical skin preparations. Bacterial burden on the skin was then measured at 4 time points up to and including 4 hours after application. The results showed that there was a decrease in efficacy of Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) 0.5% and 2%, at each time point when an anionic soap was used as compared to a Cationic soap. The same effect was not observed in other common surgical skin preparations, whose efficacy remain largely unchanged